Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 16th November 2009
Spanish property – A tale of five markets
Mark Stucklin from Spanish Property Insight provides some interesting analysis on the Spanish property market. It is easy to talk about Spain as one homogenous market but certain types of properties are still selling says Stucklin. Unfortunately, this is only around 20% of the total and there is one segment, where the properties and locations are so poor that they might never sell.
Ultra-prime property
This market is made up of extraordinary and unique properties like the private island of Espalmador, between Ibiza and Formentera, or Sa Fortalesa, a private headland off Formentor in Mallorca.The market is restricted to just a handful of properties and sales are extremely rare.
Prime property
Prime is all about location and does not necessarily mean great design or condition. It’s Marbella’s Golden Mile or Barcelona’s Paseo de Gracia. There is only a short period in the whole economic cycle, during the recession, when you can’t shift prime property, even for a reasonable price. It never lasts long because everyone wants it and there is never enough to go around.
Grade A property
Grade A property can be found in good locations around Spain, for example beachfront, in a nice town or village, and certain rural locations. It is attractive, desirable property, and it should sell well at the right price.
Prime and A grade combined account for around 20% of the market.
Grade B property
This property is positioned in okay locations. Design and finish matters more in these locations but the real market driver is price. This is the mass market and prices arguably need to come down more to get transaction volumes moving again.
Grade C property
Grade C property is located in undesirable and inconvenient locations with poor quality design and build. A lot of off-plan investors bought into this grade without knowing what they were doing says Stucklin. Much of this property will never sell at any price.
Full story on
Spanish Property Insight .
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User Comments
I agree with Mark, except that the Grade C will sell eventually - when the market becomes strong and buyers start without looking again, OR when at such low values that they can save a family the holidays costs over a couple of years. Its a bed for the night, that's all. Valuations we carry out replect all of these.
Campbell,
Survey Spain